LAUNCH OF RUSSIAN PROTON CARRIER ROCKET WITH BRITISH SATELLITE SET FOR JANUARY 30 - The launch of a Russian Proton-M carrier rocket with British communications satellite Inmarsat-5F2 has been scheduled for January 30 from the Baikonur space center that Russia leases from Kazakhstan, Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos told TASS Monday. “The Inmarsat-5F2 spacecraft was delivered to Baikonur on December 18. Specialists of the Boeing manufacturer company’s space programs unit immediately started preparing and checking it in the integration and test building,” Roscosmos said. More (Source: ITAR-TASS - Jan 13)
FOURTH NAVIGATION SATELLITE LAUNCH IN MARCH - The fourth navigation satellite of the country is getting ready for launch in March, and it will be another step forward for India in evolving its own navigation satellite system and not depend on the Geographical Positioning System (GPS) service of the U.S. Cryogenic propulsion systems on board PSLV-C27 rocket that will launch the satellite are being developed by scientists of the ISRO Propulsion Complex at Mahendragiri in Tirunelveli district. S. Ingersol, group director of the complex, told The Hindu, “Totally, seven satellites are required to be launched to complete the configuration under the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) and already three had been launched. More (Source: The Hindu - Jan 12)
HUNGARY’S FIRST SATELLITE DEORBITS AFTER COMPLETING MISSION - Having successfully completed its mission, Masat-1, Hungary’s first satellite, is now destroyed after entering the Earth’s atmosphere, the research team controlling its mission told the Hungarian news agency MTI on Saturday. The satellite is believed to have burned up as projected, between 23:15 pm on Friday and 0:45 am on Saturday. According to the scientists, its last online package was received at 21:21.43 pm on Saturday, after which no further signal from Masat-1 was detected. This is due partly to the fact that the satellite spent its final hours above an ocean or an area where no surface radars collecting data for Hungarian controllers exist. More (Source: Hungary Today - Jan 11)
DRAGON SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED, ROCKET RECOVERY DEMO CRASH LANDS - A commercial Dragon spaceship soared into orbit from Cape Canaveral on Saturday in pursuit of the International Space Station, but the automated craft’s Falcon 9 booster crash landed after flying back to Earth in a daring test of future reusable rocket technologies. SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted updates on the daring flyback maneuver, saying the 15-story booster made a hard landing on a vessel positioned 200 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral. Details on what happened during the rocket’s landing were not immediately known. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 11)
BLOCK II GPS SATELLITE RETIRES AFTER 22 YEARS - Jan. 6 was the last day of service for GPS satellite SVN-26. SVN-26 was a Boeing/Rockwell International Block II GPS satellite launched July 7, 1992. It was one of the first generation of operational GPS satellites, and had a design life of only 7.5 years. On Jan. 7, SVN-26 (PRN-26) was transferred from the operational ground control system (AEP) to Launch, Anomaly and Disposal Operations (LADO). CGSIC Executive Secretariat Rick Hamilton, USCG Navigation Center, remarked on its longevity. “A testament to the satellite engineers and the men and women of the Air Force, the Second Space Operations Squadron at Schriever Air Force Base has successfully managed SVN-26 in its mission for over 22 years.” More (Source: GPSworld.com - Jan 10)
NEW MISSION: DSCOVR SATELLITE WILL MONITOR THE SOLAR WIND - Solar wind – that is, the stream of charged electrons and protons that are released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun – is a constant in our Solar System and generally not a concern for us Earthlings. However, on occasion a solar wind shock wave or Coronal Mass Ejection can occur, disrupting satellites, electronics systems, and even sending harmful radiation to the surface. Little wonder then why NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have made a point of keeping satellites in orbit that can maintain real-time monitoring capabilities. The newest mission, the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) is expected to launch later this month. More (Source: Universe Today - Jan 10)
SPACEX TO TRY AGAIN SATURDAY TO LAUNCH SPACE STATION SUPPLIES, LAND BOOSTER ROCKET ON PLATFORM - SpaceX will try again Saturday to launch a load of groceries and other supplies to the International Space Station. The first attempt was halted Tuesday at the last minute because of a problem with the Falcon rocket. The delivery was supposed to occur before Christmas, but was delayed twice in mid-December. Once the Dragon capsule is on its way, SpaceX will try to land the first-stage booster rocket on a platform floating in the Atlantic. No one has ever pulled off such a touchdown. More (Source: Newser - Jan 9)
PIONEERING SPACEX ROCKET LAUNCH ABORTED - Private spaceflight company SpaceX scrubbed a scheduled rocket launch Tuesday, in which it planned to attempt the pioneering step of landing the rocket's first stage on a floating platform. The next possible launch attempt is at 5:09 a.m. ET Friday, NASA said via Twitter, "pending resolution of the issue." NASA and SpaceX said the problem was with the Falcon 9 rocket's second stage, rather than the section it plans to try to land. More (Source: CNN - Jan 6)
SPACEX LAUNCH SET FOR TUESDAY - SpaceX and NASA plan to launch a rocket Tuesday morning to send supplies and equipment to the International Space Station — the first such mission since another company's effort blew up in Virginia in October. The SpaceX rocket Falcon 9 is set to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 6:20 a.m., lifting the company's Dragon capsule toward rendezvous later this week with the space station. The launch has been postponed several times since an early December attempt was scrubbed. The capsule carries a new global-weather-monitoring instrument and 4,100 pounds of supplies and equipment for the six astronauts aboard the space station, including replacements for several items lost when an Orbital Sciences resupply rocket exploded on launch Oct. 28 at NASA's Wallops Island, Va., launch complex. More (Source: Orlando Sentinel - Jan 6)
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